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“Ready for round two?” Gio says with a big smile.
“Let me sit down first.”
“Your dad was the one who actually uncovered the accounting irregularities months ago. The first thing he did was call me and we came up with a plan. Then we called law enforcement, knowing the long game here was witnes
s protection and it only takes one slip up, one piece of misfiled paperwork, and our whereabouts are revealed.”
“I don’t get it.”
“We got your mom out first. She left with a friend of mine on a boat in Monaco, which made the whole midlife crisis I’m going to run away thing look more legitimate. You were going to college so she didn’t need to be in her unhappy marriage anymore. She’d done her job as a mom and now she wanted to go off and live like she was on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Notice how it all happened so abruptly and you never saw her with the guy or actually kissing him. He was just a decoy.”
“Mom, you?”
She nods.
“We wanted to get you out too, but if we withdrew you from college before it even started it would be a huge tip-off. The Italians seemed to already know your dad might have caught on as he asked one two many questions when he did his annual audit recently. We had to make everything else look normal.”
“But what about everything that went down at the house?” I ponder out loud.
“The house was bugged. No questions about it. It was just a matter of how many people had bugged it, hence all the double-crossing.”
“Double-crossing.”
My father shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll admit I wasn’t thrilled when I heard Giovanni had taken an interest in you. I was pissed actually, but his plan to have me catch the two of you in the house actually made a lot of sense. It allowed the two of you to go your separate ways for a week, providing a further distraction to anyone who might be watching us and provided audio to whoever was bugging the house. It looked like we were all falling apart just as quickly as Marroni’s operation.”
“Who all was bugging the house?”
Gio perks up. “I’d guess Marroni’s people, probably for years, and then the Feds and even the Italian police involved in the case.”
“Why did you come to the States then?”
“I was there to get you out. I just didn’t know that I was going to fall in love with you first.”
I pause, looking at everyone. “Is this all a joke? I feel like I’m in that Michael Douglas movie The Game.”
“Not a joke,” Gio quickly states matter of factly. “We couldn’t tell you because we didn’t know what was bugged and what wasn’t. And if we told you you’d act differently which could tip off who knows who.”
“But what about the strip club?”
“Are you kidding me?” dad asks. “I still owe you a serious spanking for that one.” Gio’s eye perk up and I suppress a smile. “Gio and I were both beyond surprised you did that as that was not part of the plan at all, but somewhat strangely it kind of worked out to our advantage.”
“But didn’t you take Gio to meet Marroni?”
“Yeah, I needed a real Italian to give him the once over to make sense of some of those chains and medallions, and who better than an Italian mafia man.”
“Former,” Gio quickly corrects. “My life is much, much different now. Perfect actually,” he says, pulling me in for a hug and placing his hand on my stomach. “We’ve got news by the way.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less after not speaking with you for a month. You can always expect the unexpected when it comes to Giovanni Gallo,” dad quips.
“We’re expecting,” Gio says, rubbing my stomach.
“You’re what?” mom asks as dad starts to teeter and passes out, but not before Gio grabs him and slaps his face a few times, bringing him right back into the moment.
Gio pulls dad into the shade and mom starts hugging me wildly.
“I can’t believe I didn’t sniff this out.” I’m beyond perplexed.
“And I can’t believe I didn’t smell that delicious gnocchi from down the beach. Let’s eat!” mom suggests, never one to miss out on Italian food.
